


Rental

by syrupwit



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-14 20:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17515157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syrupwit/pseuds/syrupwit
Summary: Tony should have realized sooner that something was up.





	Rental

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LearnedFoot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LearnedFoot/gifts).



The alley smells like garbage and puke. That makes sense, since it's splattered with both. Tony resists the urge to seal his helmet.

"Parker, come out of the dumpster."

No reply. A squelching noise from the dumpster. Kind of sounds like someone chewing, which -- Tony doesn't want to absorb that. It was weird enough watching _Peter Parker_ try to swallow some guy's head a few minutes ago. Sure, kid's got a history of dumpster-diving, but the idea of him eating trash is just too much.

"Come on," Tony tries. "Can't we talk about this?"

Peter peers over the lid of the dumpster. He's still in that black super-suit, shiny as ink, the lithe lines of his body oddly sinister. The glue-white eyes on his mask glisten. "You'll hurt us."

"I swear to god I won't hurt you, kid." _Can't say the same for whatever's in that suit_ , Tony doesn't add.

There appears to be some contentious discussion between Peter and, well, himself, conducted in a furious whisper punctuated by yelps of " _No_ " and more snacking noises. Eventually a consensus is reached. Or, at least, Peter quiets down.

Tony makes a show of checking his watch as Peter climbs out of the dumpster. "About time."

Peter lurches at him. He's shaking and covered in garbage. His face is pale and shiny with sweat when he takes off his mask, and his pupils are huge. Shit.

"Hey, hey," says Tony, reaching out to steady Peter, wrinkling his nose at the stink. "Here, I'll fly you back to the lab, and we'll--"

_**"NO LAB!"** _

Tony stares. "Okay, we'll get you home then. But I think your aunt will have a few questions."

He moves toward Peter again, but this time Peter shoves him away. Tony's back hits the wall. The armor might have dented. He always forgets how strong the kid is.

"Mr. Stark, I am so, so sorry." Peter's hyperventilating. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that, it was him, I can't control him, I can't--"

_**"WE can do anything."** _

The last glimpse Tony has of Peter's face before the black goo swallows him up is his panicked eyes. There's a flash of huge teeth, a slimy, muscular tongue. Then the goo-creature, _him_ , whatever, uses the dumpster as a springboard to leap onto the opposite building's wall. The thing is on the roof before Tony remembers he can fly.

 

-

 

Tony should have realized something was up. The past month has been so crazy, he barely registered it as strange when Peter sent him a late-night message thanking him for a new suit he'd never made. He's made it a policy to screen Peter's late-night messages, since -- well. Since the incident they're not talking about. Will never talk about. Tony would like to say it didn't happen as far as he's concerned, but he knows himself better than that. He has to be careful.

Anyway. Everything was going fine for Peter: was acing his last semester of high school, got accepted into MIT, placed third with his best friend Ned in a Lego competition, sent the latest villain-of-the-week packing, and even got his driver's license. Then Tony got a call from Happy, who had gotten a call from May, asking if Peter was with Tony because he hadn't been home in three days. None of Peter's friends knew where he was. Tony couldn't track him -- the latest suit he'd made for Peter, the real one, was stuffed in Peter's closet. Meanwhile, at least five Oscorp employees had gone missing in the span of 48 hours. People were getting scared. An anonymous tip led Tony on a wild goose chase, finally ending in that alley.

Whatever's going on with Peter, it's not Peter's fault. Tony should have been looking out for him. Tony typically pushes the kid into situations he's not ready for, exposes him to dangers he shouldn't have to face, but in this case Tony fucked up by _not_ throwing himself into action. Should have opened that message when it arrived. Should have gone to check on him that night, no matter how it looked. He remembers the fear in Peter's eyes, and his gut clenches. Kid should never look like that.

_Mr. Stark, I don't feel so good..._

Tony copes by working. He pulls a bunch of all-nighters. He misses meetings he would have attended. He attends meetings he doesn't want to go to. Pepper calls him on his extra- _extra_ -secret personal line for the first time since their fifth and final breakup to ask if he's all right. He's got eyes and ears all over. He makes more. Another handful of Oscorp employees go missing. Someone snaps a photo of the goo monster climbing the Marine Parkway Bridge. A would-be mugger reports a frightening encounter in Brooklyn. Several exclusive hipster chocolate shops are burgled.

Peter is still in the city. Three hundred square miles isn't that big. He'll find them.

As luck would have it, someone else finds him first.

 

-

 

Eddie Brock is a journalist from San Francisco. Eddie Brock wants to interview Iron Man about aliens. Eddie Brock is visibly hungover and wearing the clothes he slept in, and when Tony offers him an espresso he almost throws up.

"Long night?" Tony asks, once Eddie's finished using the bathroom. He tosses Eddie a bottle of Gatorade. Eddie drops it.

"Something like that," Eddie mumbles, sagging gratefully onto Tony's couch. Tony makes a mental note to have it disinfected.

"Are you going to tell me why you're really here, or are you going to make me guess?"

"Look," Eddie starts, clearly fumbling for some bullshit cover story, but he stops and scrubs his hand over his face instead. "I'm a real journalist. I do this show, the Eddie Brock Report -- heard of it?"

"No."

"Look, Mr. Stark, I just want a minute of your time. My, uh, friend is missing, and I have a lead that he might be here."

"And you think I can help you because...?"

"This is gonna sound crazy, but... You know about aliens? You know aliens. I'm pretty sure you know lots of aliens. He's an alien." Eddie silences himself with a swig of Gatorade.

A suspicion is forming in Tony's mind. "This friend of yours, how would you describe him? No, let me guess: Eight feet tall, oozing black slime, jaw like a knife drawer?"

Eddie laughs, a little hysterically. "Yeah, that's the one."

"Well, your friend kidnapped my -- someone I care about, and is currently using his body as a meat puppet to rampage around this city." Eddie's got an inch or two on Tony when he stands, but he's definitely bugging out at least a little as Tony looms over him. "Got any idea how you can fix that?"

 

-

 

The ride to the Oscorp warehouse on Staten Island would be a lot more bearable if Eddie weren't sulking.

"Would you quit that?" Tony asks, after Eddie has heaved his sixth consecutive heavy sigh. Eddie just crosses his arms and glares out the window. He didn't take well to watching the videos of Spider-Man. If it weren't utterly ridiculous, Tony would think he were jealous.

Tony was planning to stake out this warehouse even before Eddie showed up. The symbiote monster, Venom, whoever, has hit up practically every other Oscorp facility in the city except this one. After that he'd be looking at the suburbs. Or, god forbid, Jersey.

They park in a secluded area and sneak around to the warehouse's back entrance. It's easy enough to find a place to hide. It's harder to concur on one, because Eddie has apparently developed some kind of weird neurotic ideas about safety or something. He doesn't get that Tony's a billionaire arms merchant and more paranoid than he could ever hope to be. Tony lets him pile boxes against the walls anyway.

After only a few hours of watching Eddie jump at every shadow, Venom arrives in a swirl of teeth and black muscle. Eddie, earlier fears forgotten,  leaps out of hiding immediately.

_**"Eddie?"** _

"I can't believe you cheated on me!" Eddie strides forth to poke Venom in the chest. The gesture makes Tony irrationally angry -- Peter's in there, dammit.

_**"I thought you were DEAD."** _

"I was, technically. But just for a while! I got better! Do you know how bad I panicked when I woke up without you, V? And then I come all this way and find you clowning around with a frickin' teenager."

_**"This host is young, but** **he is strong. Much stronger than you, Eddie."** _

"Well, ain't that fabulous. You wanna stay with him, is that it? You wanna ditch me for some poor kid who's still in high school?"

"Uhh, that won't be happening," Tony interrupts. Both Eddie and the symbiote turn to look at him.

_**"Stay out of this. Small metal man."** _

"You know, people keep saying stuff like that to me, and it never gets them what they want. Friday, a little help here?"

The warehouse suddenly vibrates with sound. Noise-cancelling headphones emerge from the Iron Man suit to shield Tony's ears. Venom collapses to the floor, writhing -- is that _Eddie_ screaming? -- and then there's just a blob of black goo streaking away at high speed from Peter's body.

And that's when the Oscorp security system goes off.

Tony is across the room before he knows it. Peter is shivering, his eyes glazed over. He flinches and curls in on himself when Tony stoops to help him up. Tony unseals his helmet and looks into Peter's face. Recognition becomes relief, immediate and palpable; there's more trust in that open young face than Tony deserves. Alarms are blaring. Something thunders behind the warehouse door that connects to the rest of the building.  
  
"Come on, kid, let's get you out of here."  
  
"Mr. Stark?"  
  
"Yeah, it's me." Tony tries to keep his voice gentle even though he has to shout. "You gonna work with me here or what? I don't like the idea of hanging around more than we have to."  
  
"Okay, sir," Peter slurs. His skin is feverish, sweaty and hot through his clothes. Christ, it smells like he hasn't showered in weeks. It's somehow not totally repulsive. He gets halfway up and falls, but Tony catches him, loops an arm around his body.

"Can you stand on your own, Parker?"

"I, I'm not sure," says Peter and turns his head, aims something that might be an aborted kiss at Tony's face. Jesus, his breath is awful.

"What have you been eating, raw sewage?" says Tony, because what else is he supposed to say.  
  
"Heads," says Peter.  
  
"Heads?"  
  
"Yeah, heads." Peter gags suddenly. "Oh god, I ate _heads_..."

Tony lets him dry-heave on his knees for a moment, but there's really not time. He scans around the room, wondering if he should maneuver them towards the door. Or maybe they should try the window? Shit, shit, shit.

Peter wipes his mouth and gets to his feet.

"I think I can stand now, and I'm sorry about that, what I did just now, and also what I did a few minutes ago, I, uh... thought you were someone else? Oh god it's so loud."

"Hold that thought," says Tony, and blasts a hole in the ceiling.

The Oscorp security drones find the warehouse empty.

 

-

 

The night is almost peaceful, high as they are above the city. It's possible to make out a few stars despite the pollution. Buildings and bridges wink and shine far below. Solitude like this is one of Tony's favorite things about flight, though he rarely admits it.

The wind tousles Peter's hair. He's not shaking anymore. The arms of the suit hold him fast, his back solid against Tony's chest. Kid is limp and totally trusting. He's not going anywhere. Body temperature is getting kind of low, though, so they'd better land soon.

"Am I dreaming, Mr. Stark?"  
  
"Yep. It's all been one long bad dream."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh."

"Aw." Peter cranes his neck to look back at Tony. His eyes are wide and long-lashed, cheeks flushed with cold. "I was hoping."

He presses a small, sweet kiss to the mask. There is the faint imprint of his lips. It's-- he's--

"Careful, you'll fog up my display," says Tony tightly.

"Sorry," says Peter, wiggling a bit in his grip. "If you, uh, made there not be the part of the mask that's over your face, then we could--"

"Nope. Nuh-uh. Don't finish that sentence."

"Are you sure this is my dream?" says Peter.

Tony says, "Hold on tight, Parker, we're landing."

 

-

 

They stop first at the tower to get Peter a medical scan. Peter's vitals are good and his blood panel comes out mostly normal for him. He's still slipping in and out of lucidity, though, so Tony decides to keep him there overnight just in case. The kid protests when a robotic assistant follows him into the shower -- "I'm fine! Mr. Stark, come on, I'm fine" -- but then he almost falls asleep under the spray. He emerges from the en-suite bathroom in an oversized t-shirt and pajama pants and makes only token resistance as Tony directs him to bed.

Kid's out like a light. That makes one of them.

Tony sends Happy for May in the morning. She shows up worried, but rapidly gets pissed once she realizes Peter isn't dead.

"Has he been with you this whole time?" she demands. "I swear to god, if this was an 'internship' thing you're both grounded. _For life_."

Tony barely restrains himself from making an inappropriate and somewhat non sequitur Oedipal joke. There are huge shadows under May's eyes, accentuated by the clinging remnants of last week's mascara. Her hands are half clenched in fists and there's a set to her jaw that tells she's been grinding her teeth. He feels even more like an asshole than usual.

"I'm sorry, May. It wasn't an internship thing exactly, but it is my fault. I should have been keeping a better eye on the kid. Want to go see if he's awake?"

Friday informs them that Peter is in the guest floor kitchen. When they get there, he's scrambling at least a dozen eggs in a pan that takes up half the stove.

"Sorry, I got hungry," he says, turning around. He freezes as May steps forward. For a second, it looks like she's deciding whether to burst into tears or start yelling. She chooses the former.

"Peter Parker, you are in so much trouble," she sniffles, and he flings himself into her arms.

A touching family reunion transpires while Tony keeps the eggs from burning. The reunion continues at the kitchen island, where Peter shovels eggs into his face and explains the whole story. There are details Tony didn't know about. He tunes in until his eyes wander and he notices -- with sudden, incandescent rage -- a livid bruise on Peter's neck. In the daylight, bruises bloom all over his bare skin: wrists, arms, feet, face. His healing factor should take care of them within a day or so, even with the blow Venom dealt to his immune response, but Tony doesn't have to like it.

"Is something wrong, sir?"

Tony realizes he's been staring. "Nothing. Hey, you guys want pancakes? Cup of coffee, May?"

"Please," says May.

"Oh my god, that would be awesome, thank you," Peter breathes. "Just, could you maybe not make chocolate chip ones? I kind of can't stand chocolate right now."

 

-

 

The Parkers return home with full stomachs and a promise to check in with the Stark Industries medical team three times that week. Various phone calls are placed. A carefully worded doctor's note is faxed (yes, faxed -- thanks, HIPAA) to Peter's school. A couple of Oscorp employees are found unharmed, while others remain missing; anonymous donations are made to their families. Tony attempts to be normal and put the Venom situation behind him. There's a big part of him that wants to hunt Venom down and engage in some seriously ethically dubious experimentation on an alien species, but he's trying to get better at resisting harmful urges. Relatively speaking.

Oscorp's New Jersey facilities suffer a string of unusual break-ins. Venom is spotted at a park in Delaware. One of Eddie Brock's aliases checks in at a motel in Solomons Island. It seems that the alien symbiote has had its fill of New York, at least for now. Good. Tony keeps an eye on Oscorp and starts designing a Venom-repellent noise feature for Peter's next suit.

It should all be fine now, but it's not fine. It's not fine, and it was never fine, and Tony dreads what he'll do the next time Peter is in peril.

He keeps their conversations short and functional. He can tell Peter's miffed. Well, he can stay miffed. Kid's got enough on his plate, what with finals, his and Ned's latest Lego project, and the whole "coming to terms with the fact that an alien possessed my body to eat people" thing. Eddie said many times that Venom only ate bad guys, but Eddie's perceptions are kind of skewed, to say the least. Peter does not need to be included in Tony's freakout.

He should have known Peter wouldn't see it that way.

 

-

 

"Why are you avoiding me, Mr. Stark?" Peter asks one night in the lab, after Tony has finished showing him the proposed upgrades to his suit. Tony is maybe a little bit drunk. He's not smashed or anything; it's just enough to take the edge off, enough that it's not quite so painful to be around Peter.

"I'm not avoiding you."

"Oooookay. You just, like, never even look at me anymore, and you haven't spoken more than a couple of sentences at a time to me in the past three weeks. That's normal! Totally non-avoidant behavior."

"That's not true. I do so look at you. See? I'm looking at you now."

"That's not what I _meant_ , Mr. Stark."

"Look, I've been busy. I don't always have time to talk."

"Is this about when I kissed you?" Peter bursts out. "I know that wasn't a dream."

"Kid--"

"Seriously, sir, if it's about that then you just need to tell me. I will stop, forever, and never bring it up again. I know it was dumb and you would never want me like that, and I'm sorry, I shouldn't have--"

Tony cuts him off with, "It's not about that." His heart twists.

"What is it about, then?"

"I said I've been busy. That's it. Simple explanation. Nothing else to discuss." Tony waves his hand. "Get out of here, go play Tik Tok or join a flash twerk or do whatever it is teenagers do nowadays."

Peter juts out his chin mulishly. "I talked to Ms. Potts."

Ice forms in Tony's veins. "What?"

"Yeah. She says you do this a lot. Like, you pull away from people you care about when they get hurt, because you think it's your fault."

"Parker--"

"It's not your fault," Peter continues. "She got really mad when I told her how you recruited me, but I told her about what I can do and we talked about Venom and she agrees it's not your fault. She said I should tell you to pull your head out of your ass, but I kind of don't want to use that language towards you? She swore a lot. I didn't expect her to swear so much. Anyway, she's pretty cool."

"Pepper is cool," Tony agrees, on autopilot. The ice in his veins is spreading.

"You don't have to feel bad," says Peter. "You've really -- you've done a lot for me. I wouldn't be alive without you, sir."

Tony's frozen in place.

Peter looks concerned. "Mr. Stark?"

In an instant, Peter's arms are around him. Tony didn't even notice how fast he'd started breathing. He inhales, nose tucked into Peter's neck, his bare, clean skin. It's like Titan, but not -- Peter is alive and warm and solid. Peter is steady, only shaking a little. The tears on his shirt are Tony's.

"I'm here," Peter says. "We're both here. It's okay."

"I can't handle you dying on me again," says Tony. He hears the tremor in his voice, hates it. Thanks, alcohol. "It would kill me. There's no one else in the universe like you, Parker, so you'd better keep out of trouble. Otherwise I'd have to sue your estate. And you know I have great lawyers."

"The best, I'm sure," says Peter into his hair. His hands hover around Tony's back like he can't figure out where to put them. Finally they clasp his waist.

The two of them stand like that for a while. It's going to be something else that makes Tony hate himself later, he's sure. He doesn't pull away when Peter hardens against his thigh, even as he feels himself respond. (They'll definitely have to talk about this, another time.) He just holds on tighter and thinks about love.

**Author's Note:**

> Title inspired by Soho Dolls' "[Trash the Rental](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8lYPzCVrxY)," which is kind of cheesy but I associate it with Venom for some reason.
> 
> It was a pleasure to write this for you, LearnedFoot! Hope you enjoy :D


End file.
